Critic Reviews for Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

The sad thing is that this Horton doesn't stick by its central message -- that every voice counts -- the way Horton sticks to the Whos. It pretends to, but the sincerity is just too scary to commit to fully.

And a motto moguls should take some time learning, if they'd like their movies to finally be earning, for it's not the cash that makes a prize of the art, but the warmth of the tale, and the size of the heart.

Audience Reviews for Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

May 18, 2013

I commend Dr. Seuss for his creative writing that intertwines silly and ingenious rhyming with a heartfelt message and story. In Hollywood, you can't just let talent like that be untouched, so what's Hollywood gonna do? They've gotta transform his book into a movie, and you know what? Surprisingly, this animated adaptation stays true to the source material... to an extent. Let's set this on a scale: the movie's an hour and 26 minutes long while the masterfully written counterpart hits less than 50 pages. An adaptation of the book would hit a mere 20 minutes. So, to prolong the running time, the creators of the adaptation decided to bring on additional writers to fill in the gaps. Let's say this: these writers hardly compare to Dr. Seuss. It's the same old "MTV-esque" jokes and pop culture references thrown in just so kids could get a quick laugh. Don't get me wrong though, the movie follows the same twists and turns as the book, but in between those turns are prolonged sequences of average dialogue. And the quality of this dialogue sticks out like a sore thumb especially when the film itself has sequences of Dr. Seuss' own writing within the mix. As you can see, there's two jarringly different types of dialogue within the film: one is witty, sharp, and smooth while the other is like any other average everyday type of banter. It gives the entire film an inconsistent tone. The original story had an incredibly pure and powerful message that was both direct and deeply moving. Fortunately, Hollywood didn't strip it out, but because of these tonal inconsistencies, by the time the film reveals its message, it isn't as powerful. As a matter of fact, even the 1970 TV adaptation of "Horton Hears a Who" executes its message and story more cohesively than this film.
All in all, Dr. Seuss' writing was so creative and influential that in fact, it brings out the rough edges to what may seem like Hollywood's attempt to revive a "non-relatable children's book", when in fact, the original children's book is the best version of the story. But, there's no doubt that if you haven't even touched the original story, this version'll suffice.

Funny and cute for kids. After a fun and nice elephant named Horton (Jim Carrey) finds a clover with a speck on it because he heard a voice on it, he discovers a entire city of Whos live on that speck, and the stressed but kind and happy Mayor (Steve Carell). Horton must put the clover on top of a mountain to save the Whos, but only if the unapproving and mean Kangaroo doesnt stop him first. The story is for kids and they will have Jim Carrey and Steve Carell have a very nice charming voice to there characters. Overall I found it funny and nice, but maybe too kiddish for me.